


Moving Ever Upwards

by Laina



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Corporate, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Modern Thedas, POV Second Person, Second person POV, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6063556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laina/pseuds/Laina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Google and Yahoo both fail in a merging effort, causing a huge downfall and loss of many jobs, that's when a new company emerges out of necessity, called "The Inquisition". Our two main characters decide it's in their best interest to join up with this growing and massively influential company. </p><p>With a fierce but friendly competition to rise in the ranks against each other, crippling rent, and intriguing bosses, Shira and Laylah have a lot on their plate. </p><p>And who is the mysterious figure that seems to oppose The Inquisition at every corner? </p><p> <br/>**STORY ON HOLD</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving Ever Upwards

**Author's Note:**

> Google is the "Templars" with focus on improving science and furthering technology using methods we know here, and Yahoo is the "Mages" where they use magic to try to improve life and infuse it with technology to get results faster and more efficiently (magic creates a circuit, becomes self sufficient... that's the idea!) 
> 
> So just... roll with it...... I suppose. :P
> 
> Please enjoy~

The company known as "The Inquisition" formed after the downfall of the major companies, Google and Yahoo. They had been competing against each other for many many years, with both companies owning most of the world wide web. Their “war” against eachother caused many problems. Website blackouts, information leakage, turned races against eachother (not that they weren’t before), caused political tensions, and the list goes on.

Of course, many positive things came from the internet. Better interconnectivity, a place for people to share histories and stories. It allowed communities to form and for people to reach new levels of understandings. But with the two major companies buying out smaller, independant companies, and each trying to sabotage the others reputation…

Well, eventually the people wanted change.

The higher ups attempted to merge the two companies, in an effort to raise income from ad revenue on both halves and to put an end to the adversaries they were causing. The even publicised the meeting in a live online stream, and allowed people to input comments and vote for a better outcome. It was all meant to make things better. But tension was high.

But suddenly the line went dead. All connections were cut off. Rumour was that it was by a third, unknown party. Some people believe the companies were too big and got a bit too heady, and attempted to underhand the other.

The deal had quite literally blown up. A huge explosion, and many little ones on each of the major information hubs for each company. Most of the “internet” as we knew it no longer existed. News companies and others with resources and money started up their own communications, attempting to restore what the companies had lost, attempted to spread the news of what happened.

“Terrorism” they said. Some people blamed Google - too greedy, they said. Others blamed Yahoo. Rumours floated around of Tevinter “reclaiming the south” or that they would need to “follow the Qun”.

It was completely ridiculous, and unreliable. The net kept going down, and it was causing people to panic. Many banks were on their own systems, but a few people had been left out in the cold, their money being completely digital.

In an effort to restore some sort of order in the world and on the web, some former Google and Yahoo employees decided to band together and form “The Inquisition”. With them came a mage, a master coder and could infuse their magic with the web to fix any flaw. With a huge information breach, demons (a nasty form of virus that arrived when you unsuccessfully attempted to mix magic and technology together) and a lot of holes that needed fixing… Well people needed some sort of hope.

And they needed a lot more manpower for it to work.

Errr and that’s where you come in.

“Of course, there are rumours that it was actually him who started the whole thing and now just wants to get the credit for fixing it but…” you sigh, exasperated with your friend, who is clearly not understanding anything. She was staring at you, her mouth gaping around the straw in her frappuccino.

“Look, I _totally_ get it,” she paused. “Wait, no I don’t.” She frowned and leaned back.

Your best friend, Laylah, sits across from you. You’re in a Starbucks, arguably your favourite place to chill, _trying_ to prove a point. You were getting to it.

“I know a big company is fixing things, like du _hhh_ , obviously somebody has to fix this stuff, but why are you telling me the whole history, huh? History junkie. What’s your point?”  You were getting there! Seriously!

You find yourself just staring at her. Her indifference could be annoying. She knew your point, the smug look on her face as she slurped her drink proved it. You purse your lips.

“We don’t have jobs anymore, Laylah. We need money…” you pick up your 5 dollar latte and wave it in her face, “for stuff like this. How are we gonna pay rent?”

Laylah frowned. “Ugh, Shira… don’t even remind me.” She swirled around her frapp gently with the straw. “Even my boyfriend is out of a job…”

Many companies who relied on the internet to function (which were under service providers owned by… guess who..! Google or Yahoo…) ended up shutting down, unable to function, or severely cut back the number of employees.

You’d worked at a phone company, answering questions in multiple languages, dealing with stupid people. You didn’t miss it, but you missed the pay. Emily had worked as a secretary for a small startup company. Needless to say, they didn’t do so well.

Well, neither did you. You both got fired.

“Look, Laylah. The Inquisition is _going_ places.”

She stares at you for a moment, squinting. “Nuh-uh. I know what you’re suggesting. You want us to get a job there. Hahaha… Let’s just get a more… _normal_ job. Something that’s always in demand. Like Starbucks!”

You glance behind you at the counter where the Starbucks employees anxiously served their one customer and then turned back to look at Laylah. Did she hear herself? Was she trying to be ironic?

“Besides, do you know how fierce the competition will be for that? Like do you _know_ who is trying to get a job there? **Everyone**.” Laylah sipped her frappuccino.

“What’s your point?” you ask, smirk on your face. “Scared of a little competition? Have so little faith in yourself that you think they would never, ever hire you? So, why even try? Right?”

You watch as Laylah’s face hardens.

“Fine,” _gotcha_. “You’re right.”

She leans in closer to you.

“But we’re gonna make this a competition.”

Yes, of course. Always a competition between you two.

“Let’s see who gets promoted first.” Laylah relaxed in her chair. She was confident in this one. Well, of course she would be. She was a human. People still had lingering prejudices against the elves. She had the upper hand.

“No handicaps this time!” she said suddenly.

“Fine,” you agree begrudgingly. The last time you guys competed was over getting a guy for the night. She gave you a half hour head start. You had one before she even started.

Yeah, she never really got over that one.

At least she kept the guy she ended up snagging? That counts as a win right?

-

So that’s how you ended up sitting in an interview with this frightening, authoritative looking woman who introduced herself as Josephine Montilyet.

She had an Orlesian accent, which somehow made you more nervous. Not that you would let her see that. If she’d spent any time in Orlais then she would be quite adept at The Game.

From the way she spoke, you would guess that she was.

You’d done your research, of course. The Inquisition had taken a different approach from both Google and Yahoo.

Originally, Google had taken a technological, non-magical approach using science to fund and create their company.

Yahoo had used a more “tried and true” method of magic and connections through the fade to make the internet bend to their will and to improve existing technologies.

But old magical fears still lingered, so even clever business sense couldn’t have pulled Yahoo into the top position. Too many people were non-mages with little understanding.

However, The Inquisition hadn’t focused only on one side or the other. They had somehow merged and found a good balance between magic and science.

That was something you were really drawn to. You were a mage, after all (though that was something you kept on the down-low, only Laylah really knew). The Inquisition seemed accepting of mages, the herald (the master coder everyone was talking about) was a mage… and they even had a listing asking specifically for mages. But still… applying as a mage? Not something you were willing to risk. No, a desk job or something answering emails would be perfectly fine with you.

Maybe if they _really_ needed a mage.. you could apply internally later on. Or something.

Anyways, Mrs. Montilyet. Orlesian. Interesting. Although you now lived in Ferelden, you were born in Orlais. Moved here at a young age, but you were fluent in both languages. Something many people really seemed to favour, you’re pretty sure it garnered you a few jobs before. Pretty sure it would work again.

Of course most people liked to assume that if you knew Orlesian then you were adept at the Game. They weren’t wrong, persay. But it’s been years since you’ve been a player, and you aren’t really sure you want to get into that really. You just let them assume. You immediately know that will not work on Montilyet.

She goes to shake your hand with a familiar expression that says “all business” on her face. You make sure to hold her hand firmly and give a friendly smile to her.

“Greetings,” she starts. “I trust you’re Shira?”

You nod and take your seat across from her, all too aware of your posture. Job interviews were unnerving.

Of course, you intended to ooze confidence. _They_ needed _you_ after all.

“So for what purpose do you want to work for the inquisition?”

An obvious question. Answer knowledgeably.

“I’m loving the work you are doing here, Mrs. Montilyet. The combination of science and magic is something very intriguing to me and I believe working here will help me better both your company and myself.”

Threw in a compliment? Check. Showed understanding of the company? Check. Showed that it would benefit the company and yourself? Check. Self improvement was always something companies liked to pretend they cared about.

Josephine nodded, seemingly content with your answer. Then proceeded to ask a few more questions. She seemed quite interested in the fact you knew Orlesian, and mentioned there were translation positions that needed to be filled. You of course, were interested. Translation? Easy work.

She asks if you’ve studied anything, and you mention your study of histories and ancient elvhen. She seems interested in that and notes it down.

After gauging your interest in their activities, the interview ended. It had only taken 5 minutes. Short but very sweet. Mrs. Montilyet seemed to really like you. Then again, you doubt she would be rude to you, she seemed the sort to tolerate just about anyone.

Either way, you're sure you have the job.

Of course, you were hardly expecting the phone call only two hours later. You recognised the number and made sure to answer it confidently and precisely (you never stop making impressions after all).

They wanted you to start on Monday, which was only a weekend away. _Yes_. It was gonna be an orientation and training session to figure out placement. Perfect.

You texted Laylah on the way back to your apartment, only to be greeted with confetti in your face when you opened the door, accompanied by blaring music.

“Congratulations to us for both making it to orientation!” she pulled you in and swirled you around (you were kinda tiny compared to her after all, elf vs human and all that).

“We are gonna **rock it**!” Well, at least she was way more enthusiastic now.

The weekend however, went by slowly. Your anticipation for the orientation making it painfully slow. Weekends are great when you work all week, but otherwise? They just blur into the other days and aren’t that special.

You spend your time with Laylah (and sometimes her boyfriend, Marc). You guys discuss the interview (you’d had the same interviewer after all) and end up agreeing that while Joesphine was pretty strict, with her hair tied back and her regal posture, she was actually quite pretty.

“How come you grew up in Orlais but don’t have a sexy Orlesian accent?” Laylah complained on Sunday night.

“Sexy?” you let out a sour laugh. “Honestly, to me it sounds like we’re spitting on everyone. Besides, you don’t have an accent if you learn both languages at once… you know that.”

“And you know that’s not always true,” Laylah pouted. “Also, for the last time, you’re crazy! It definitely doesn’t sound like spit!”

Yeah, basically all your conversations ever are like this one.

-

Monday was finally here. You twist your long hair up into a bun and apply a more natural makeup look. You’re not quite sure if heavier makeup would be appropriate or not so you’ll wait til later to decide that. Covering up your dark circles and enhancing your eyes will have to do.

You and Laylah carpool to the orientation, because duh, you live together. And she has a car.

You really need a car of your own… Oh well, priorities. You could get one later.

Or mooch off of Laylah forever.

You mentally add “car” to your list of things to buy when you actually have money.

 

The building for The Inquisition was pretty large, honestly.

It was named “Haven”, probably because it was meant to be a safe, comfortable space for everyone who worked there. Uhhh, maybe. Ok, you made that up, you had no idea why it was called Haven.

You and Laylah meet up with the other new hires in a small group right in the main waiting room of the building, a poor elven secretary tried to get you all chairs to sit in while you wait, then ended up scurrying off to.. somewhere.

There were about twenty five or so of you. Not a huge amount, but you were willing to bet they would be doing another wave of hiring after you all got settled in.

At 9 AM on the dot, a woman with short, pixie cut black hair and a fierce face sauntered in.

It was obvious from her stance that she was in a position of power and was used to it.

“Hello everyone,” she said, addressing the room in a fiery tone. “I am Cassandra, and I will be showing you all around today, getting you acquainted with our facility and… _hopefully_ finding a good fit for you all.”

While her tone was unfriendly, you could tell from her wording that she had good intentions, probably. Also, she looked familiar. You were definitely going to have to look her up, you swear she was part of something important. A CEO maybe?

Cassandra motioned for everyone to follow her. She showed the testing facilities, where people would use and test technologies for bugs and coding flaws or magical inconsistencies. They would make sure it was safe to use for non-mages (inability to use magical items was a common problem) and that it wouldn’t “explode or something” - according to Cassandra (not a common problem). She didn’t seem too fond of mages, but didn’t seem to outright complain about them.

You definitely would not be letting her know you were one any time soon.

Laylah seemed to really enjoy the testing part. You could see her really enjoying the job, and obviously so could she, as she bounced around a bit as you walked through the area.

Then, Cassandra showed you the marketing team, a room filled with white boards, comfy chairs and a huge, round carpeted area. There were various diagrams all over the boards and large poster boards covering the floor.

You could definitely see yourself working there. Everyone seemed pretty excited. The open floor concept was really appealing all around.

You also walked through the data collection side (a fun looking room with colourful graphs littering the room), translation(which seemed a bit empty people wise, and nobody really looked up, yikes), trading (filled with many computers all facing each other and people working hard, too busy to say too much) and even walked past where the management worked (Josephine came out to say hi quickly, before continuing on her way, carrying a clipboard.)

You could see yourself working in almost any of those positions. Though you’d mostly talked about translating, hopefully your interest in history left you open enough to try out a few of the other options too.

You also saw the area with coders and mages. Neither were why they hired you, but it looked like both groups were having fun. They intermingled, chatting and figuring out problems.

You weren’t sure if it was to put on a show but it was really nice to see some sort of companionship within the company. At least they weren’t trying to kill each other.

After the tour ended, Cassandra walked you all back to the front desk, where Josephine passed her a clipboard before once again walking off. Busy, that one.

Cassandra read off a list of names and various places you were assigned to work, as a sort of “try out” before finalising your positions.

Laylah, much to her excitement, was put in testing, along with trading (she didn’t seem excited about that one) and marketing.

You, unsurprisingly, were marked down for translation and data collection.

No chance of working with Laylah then, but plenty of room for moving upwards in either position, though the same could be said for Laylah. The competition was _definitely_ on. You were gonna knock them right out of their breeches, or something. That was the plan anyways.

Cassandra assigned you to work in data collection for the rest of the day, and Laylahwas to work in trading. Hahaha, maybe she would end up liking it. You doubted it, too monotonous for her.

Tomorrow everyone would be in a different department to try that out as well. So translation for you was tomorrow. By Friday, everyone would have a permanent placement based on work performance and personal enjoyment. Well, at least they wanted you to like what you were doing.

You were one of the few people with only two options. Most of the others with two options were mages or hired for coding. They were to try out the other sections to get a feel for what they were working with, rather than choosing a department. You imagined it would be the same for you as well.

There was a surprising amount of people who were supposed to try out in the translation department though. Seriously, how many Fereldans knew another language besides common? More than you originally thought, apparently.

Before you could leave to join your group in data management, Cassandra pulled you aside.

“Shira.. was it?” you nodded, suddenly nervous. “I don’t mean to pry but… I sense you are a mage.”

Oh. Your throat closed up. She could sense it?? Then, she had abilities like templars before had? How did that happen?!

“Fear not, this is a safe place for mages. I only wish to ask why you did not mention it on your application at all.”

You swallowed. “Oh, well.. honestly, I’m not terribly proficient as a mage.” Well you just lied through your teeth. “It’s hardly a skill worth mentioning really.”

“Hmm…” Cassandra pulled away, looking at you quizzically. “Very well, that is your choice, I was simply curious.” She couldn’t sense levels of proficiency, right?

She pushed you on your way then, and you scurried off to join the others in data collection.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, long first chapter and they haven't even met their to be crushes~ what is thissss.
> 
> Thank you soo much for reading! I would love to read your comments and how you are liking it so far! (: See you in the next chapter!


End file.
